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Lord of the Rings - Demo Day


I had an open Saturday morning on my calendar and wanted to have a game of Lord of the Rings - Strategy Battle Game. Most of the usual LotR crowd had planned to play other games later in the day and they weren't available. I asked about hosting a game at Multiverse Games. They were kind enough to set a table aside for me and put an announcement on social media.

I was wonderfully surprised to see some newbie players arrive at the table that Saturday morning! Good to know that there are players still interested in the world of Middle Earth.

We setup the table with a quick fantasy themed layout. My 3D-printed square tower was placed in the middle of the board as an objective. Two other minor objectives were placed at the halfway line.

The scenario was simple. Three objectives were valued at 3/5/7 victory points. Whichever side had the most number of stands on an objective at the end of the game would win that objective and the corresponding victory points.

I pulled out some of my armies and broke them up into two 400 pt lists. The sides were: a Wood Elf army led by Legolas and Thranduil vs. a horde of Moria goblins with a Shaman and a Cave Troll! I let the new players play while I served as referee.

The battle began with both sides moving towards the objectives. The elves left a few archers behind so they could fire at range. The troll charged ahead and took several hits from bow fire. The troll threw a boulder at Thranduil. The boulder missed, but you can imagine the worry on the elf player's face. The rest of the horde ran as fast as possible (5 inch move) toward the objectives. The elves had a movement advantage (6 inch moves) but the elf commander was hesitant. Perhaps due to the boulder throwing incident. This gave the goblins time to swarm around the objectives. The troll made it to the doorway of the tower and blocked the entrance with its giant body.

On the final turn, the battle became tense.  The Elves were in a tight spot and needed to turn the tide quickly. The goblins had overrun all three objectives. Archers finally brought down the troll and that filled the elves with hope. Thranduil moved to another objective and successfully used the 'Nature's Wrath' spell. This spell knocked down all the goblins on the objective. Elf warriors moved in and quickly cleaned out the stunned goblins which helped secure that objective for the elves. But it wasn't enough to win the battle. The goblins secured the tower for 7 victory points. The elves got the 5pt objective. The last objective was contested resulting in a goblin victory!

It was a great battle for the new players and the outcome was contested until the very last turn. There was plenty of action. At times the players were holding their breath as they rolled the dice. I was so glad the event turned out well. Hopefully, we will see the new players on another game day.
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